West Midlands Police insisted it is confident of preventing fraud in May's local elections after Ministers unveiled tough new laws in Birmingham.

Assistant Chief Constable Stuart Hyde said: "We are on the look-out for fraud and are much better placed to identify people who might be planning to cheat in the elections before it happens."

Mr Hyde was speaking as Minister Harriet Harman unveiled a series of tough new measures to crack down on fraud, during a visit to Birmingham yesterday.

Changes to the law include a new offence of falsely applying for a postal or proxy vote and a new, strengthened offence of attempting unduly to influence the way another person votes. It followed the discovery of fraud in elections in Aston and Bordesley Green two years ago, which led to the sacking of six Labour councillors.

Mr Hyde, who also represents the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) on the issue of policing elections, said political parties needed to change the way they dealt with postal votes.

He said: "Everyone has to take responsibility for making elections as fair as possible. That includes the local authority, the Government and the parties."

The parties should end the practice of sending canvassers to collect completed postal voting forms from residents, ACPO has said.

Ms Harman warned that election cheats would be prosecuted and jailed, when she met officers at the Tally Ho! police training centre in Edgbaston yesterday .

But Conservatives claimed the Government had "compromised Britain's traditional reputation for free and fair elections".

Oliver Heald, shadow Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs, said the Government had encouraged the fraud by making it easier to apply for postal votes.

He criticised Ministers for failing to accept the recommendations of the Electoral Commission, which has called for every voter to be required to sign a form and give their date of birth when registering to vote. At the moment, one person can fill in the form on behalf of every-one in their household.

Ministers have rejected the proposal on the grounds that it might reduce turnout.

Mr Heald said: "The Labour Government's fiddling with the electoral system has compromised Britain's traditional reputation for free and fair elections, and undermined both the integrity of the system and public confidence in it.

"Labour has been motivated by its own partisan advantage, rather than the interests of the nation.

"Ministers have not gone far enough to safeguard our democracy. They have refused to introduce the tried and tested system of individual registration."

Meanwhile, Gordon Brown has called for a debate on lowering the voting age after a high-profile inquiry warned that the political system was in danger of "meltdown".

The Power inquiry, which included Birmingham-born Radio One disc jockey Emma B, called for the minimum voting age to be reduced to 16.

It held a public meeting in Birmingham last year, in which members of the public were invited to quiz Michael Howard, then the Conservative leader.